The use of photofinishing minilabs in retail currently requires that an operator manually mark customer order forms with the number of, for example, prints produced. For each order, the type of products and quantities of each are then manually entered into a cash register or point of sale terminal at a checkout location of a store. Occasionally, stores create notebooks with pages of UPC labels that are scanned at a checkout to reduce the time and data entry errors.
The conventional approach of manually entering the types of products and quantities of each product produced at each cash register or point-of-sale terminal is cumbersome especially when there is a single product with multiple quantity or multiple products with a variable quantity of one of the products.
Conventionally it is known to use bar code information with photofinishing and other retail operations. However, conventional systems do not provide for photofinishing minilabs in which bar code information is linked to a (POS) point-of-sale system for a retail store. That is, conventional photofinishing minilab systems do not provide for a computer interface to a retailer""s point-of-sale system.
In a conventional minilab and retail outlet arrangement an operator proceeds as follows: (a) when the minilab has completed the order, the operator writes the number of images that were printed on the order form; (b) when the prints, KODAK Picture CDs or other products that were manufactured for the order are complete, the operator assembles the order placing the products, processed negatives, and the order form together for consumer pickup; and (c) when the consumer picks up the order, the retail clerk enters the product code and print count into the point of sale terminal. Occasionally, retail stores will create notebooks of UPC labels to be scanned rather than hand enter the code. As described above, such an operation is cumbersome especially where there is one product with variable quantities (for example, multiple prints) or multiple products, one of which has a variable quantity (for example, one KODAK Picture CD with multiple prints).
Kodak""s wholesale service division, Qualex, utilizes UPC labels for their operations. In this implementation, a sales team and a retailer""s category manager work out pricing including sales promotions for several months. The automated wholesale lab keeps track of the work products as they are manufactured in the lab. At the output sorting step, the retail store and the work products are used to determine the product code and price for those products, in that store at that time. The appropriate UPC label is then generated after the product is completed.
The present invention relates to a system and method for delivering photographic-based products to a customer which utilizes UPC (Uniform Pricing Code) labels created in a minilab to interface with a retail point-of-sale system of a retail location.
The present invention provides a method and system that is adapted to automatically generate UPC labels in a minilab. In the present invention, the minilab produces a UPC label with the product and quantity without the specific price. The pricing is maintained through normal processes used by a retailer for their POS systems and for their product line. Conventionally, maintaining the price information in distributed minilabs has been a burden that has prevented previous integration into a POS system. Utilizing UPC labels, as described in the present invention, that only identify the products (not price) enables timely control of pricing by retailers in the manner that they manage their product line.
The present invention therefore relates to a system and method of delivering a variety of photographic-based products to a customer which along with creating the photographic-based products, provides for the automatic creation of a UPC code and label that is associated with the photographic-based product.
Since current photofinishing minilabs are automated with software that is fully aware of the products that are being manufactured on the minilab for the customer order, within the context of the present invention, the minilab is adapted to create a UPC code and label that describes the order to a point-of-sales system at a retailer""s checkout terminal. In the present invention, the minilab uses software (such as a database within the minilab) to identify the UPC code for the type of products that are being manufactured for the customer""s order and the quantity of the product being manufactured. The system and method of the present invention eliminates the need to manually mark customer order forms with, for example, the number of prints produced, and further eliminates the need to manually enter type and quantity of products produced at a point-of-sale terminal.
The present invention therefore provides for a method of handling an order for photographic-based products which comprises the steps of: receiving an order for photographic-based products from a customer; processing the order to begin producing the photographic-based products; automatically creating a UPC code for the photographic-based products to be produced for the order during the processing step, with the UPC code representing a type of photographic-based product being produced; and linking the UPC code with a stored database of pricing information to identify a price for the type of photographic-based products represented by the UPC code.
The present invention further relates to a method of delivering a variety of photographic-based products to a customer which comprises the steps of receiving an order for photographic-based products from a customer; processing the order to begin producing the photographic-based products, wherein a type and a quantity of each of the photographic-based products which are to be produced are determined during the processing step; creating a UPC code for the photographic-based products to be produced for the order during the processing step, with the UPC code representing at least one of an order having a variable quantity of the photographic-based products or an order having multiple distinct photographic-based products in which one of the multiple distinct photographic-based products has a variable quantity; associating each UPC code with a corresponding produced photographic-based product at a point of sale terminal; linking the UPC code with a store database of pricing information to identify a price for the type and quantity of the corresponding photographic-based product represented by the UPC codes; and delivering the produced photographic-based products to the customer.
The present invention further relates to a system for producing and delivering a variety of photographic-based products to a customer which comprises a minilab processing arrangement adapted to process a customer order and produce photographic-based products based on the customer order, with the minilab processing arrangement comprising an interface section which is adapted to determine a type and a quantity of each of the photographic-based products which are to be produced and create a UPC code representative of the type and quantity of the photographic-based products to be produced, and a printing section adapted to print a label with the UPC code thereon. The UPC code represents at least one of an order having a variable quantity of the photographic-based products or an order having multiple distinct photographic-based products in which one of the multiple distinct photographic-based products has a variable quantity.